to the troops, some of whom asked the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, as he traveled through afghanistan, whether they will still get paid if the u.s. coffers run dry. he told them, "i honestly can't answer that." how can you even allow these soldiers to wonder whether they're going to get paid? >> i think senator mcconnell and i are both cefd that we're going to be able to come to some agreement with the white house and end this impasse. >> reporter: but, again, democratic leaders dispute that, and in fact, when house minority leader nancy pelosi was returning from the white house this evening, we asked her what she thought of mcconnell's aserks that they were close to a deal, and she said to us, "i don't even know what you're talking about. " russ. >> mitchell: let's talk about the tea party. where are the tea party members in all of this. >> reporter: most likely,erous, they're not going to be happy with whatever gets agreed tot last minute by the white house and democratic and republican leaders. that's because they're going to be looking to bring forward a coalition of moderates fro